Fourth-year Houston hitting coach Dave Hudgens was hired as the Blue Jays bench coach on Wednesday, becoming the third member of manager A.J. Hinch's on-field coaching staff to depart the organization this offseason.

"Hudge has done a great job for us and been instrumental in shaping our offense," Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said Wednesday. "He's been a big part of our success the last couple years. He has an opportunity to be a bench coach on a major league team and that's something he's always wanted to do. It's not something we can provide for him. We have a bench coach we really like."

This is the first bench coach title for the 61-year-old Hudgens, a four-time hitting coach whom Hinch hired before his inaugural 2015 Astros season. Hudgens coached Hinch during his second major league season as an Oakland Athletic.

Hudgens' 2017 Astros offense led the majors in runs, hits, batting average and OPS. Jose Altuve won two batting titles during Hudgens' tenure. George Springer, he of a 33.0 strikeout percentage upon Hudgens' arrival, whittled his punchout propensity in each of his first three years under Hudgens.

Chandler Rome joined the Houston Chronicle in 2018 to cover the Astros after spending one year in Tuscaloosa covering Alabama football — during which Nick Saban asked if he attended college. He did, at LSU, where he covered the Tigers baseball team for nearly four years. He covered most of the Astros' 2015 playoff run, too, as an intern for MLB.com

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